Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey - Softcover

Bowler, Peter J.; Morus, Iwan Rhys

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226068617 ISBN 13: 9780226068619

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2005

Synopsis

The development of science, according to respected scholars Peter J. Bowler and Iwan Rhys Morus, expands our knowledge and control of the world in ways that affect-but are also affected by-society and culture. In Making Modern Science, a text designed for introductory college courses in the history of science and as a single-volume introduction for the general reader, Bowler and Morus explore both the history of science itself and its influence on modern thought.

Opening with an introduction that explains developments in the history of science over the last three decades and the controversies these initiatives have engendered, the book then proceeds in two parts. The first section considers key episodes in the development of modern science, including the Scientific Revolution and individual accomplishments in geology, physics, and biology. The second section is an analysis of the most important themes stemming from the social relations of science-the discoveries that force society to rethink its religious, moral, or philosophical values. Making Modern Science thus chronicles all major developments in scientific thinking, from the revolutionary ideas of the seventeenth century to the contemporary issues of evolutionism, genetics, nuclear physics, and modern cosmology.

Written by seasoned historians, this book will encourage students to see the history of science not as a series of names and dates but as an interconnected and complex web of relationships between science and modern society. The first survey of its kind, Making Modern Science is a much-needed and accessible introduction to the history of science, engagingly written for undergraduates and curious readers alike.

About this title

About the Author

Peter J. Bowler is professor of the history of science in the School of Anthropological Studies at Queen's University, Belfast, and the author of Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain, published by the University of Chicago Press. Iwan Rhys Morus is lecturer in the Department of History and Welsh History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and the author of When Physics Became King, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Review

"This book strikes a wonderful balance between basic exposition and constructive, critical literature review. The selection of topics - 'modern science' from the seventeenth century through the twentieth, along with analysis of the themes that have animated historians' study of these many endeavors - forms a coherent and readable whole. It should fit curricular needs very well." - David Kaiser, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; "The breadth of knowledge represented here is remarkable. There is nothing on (or off) the market that equals what Bowler and Morus have accomplished." - Richard Burkhardt, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign"

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0226068617
• ISBN 13: 9780226068619
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 529